Tips and Phrases for IELTS Speaking Part 2

Most students ask ‘Which tenses can I use?’

Actually, you can use any tenses you want in IELTS Speaking Part 2.

It depends on what meaning you want to convey. There may be chances to use past, present and future tenses.

What is important, is that you try and show off your use and control of several different tenses.

Let me show you some ideas below with a special storytelling technique as old as the hills – but take note, only use it if you are confident with it.

In the first example below, we’ll use past tenses only.

It happened about 2 months ago. [TIME]

I was waiting for a friend inside a coffee bar. [SET SCENE]

This woman came in and started talking really loudly on her phone. Then she sat next to me. It was so noisy so I asked her to be quiet. [ACTIONS]

Now see what happens when we introduce some present tenses.

It happened about 2 months ago. [TIME]

I was waiting for a friend inside a coffee bar. [SET SCENE]

Then, this woman comes in and starts talking really loudly on her phone. Then she sits next to me. [LIVELY ACTIONS]

It was so noisy so I asked her to be quiet. [CONCLUDING ACTIONS]

We can use the simple past tense to say when something happened.

Then, the past continuous tense to set the scene.

After that, we can introduce present tenses to make the action vivid and make it feel like it is happening now in front of us.

It’s a powerful technique because it triggers stronger emotional responses.

Finally, when concluding, we often go back to the simple past tenses.